


finding your way

by annabethcheese



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: M/M, also jason’s not gonna die here obviously, as like a collection of one-shots or something, hhhhh ok nico read this, hmmmm let us see, hopefully my boss isn't behind me as i type this aaaaaaaaaa, i wrote this at work :l, maybe i will add onto this, now i'm on this at work on the computer i'm very nervous
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-22
Updated: 2020-07-22
Packaged: 2021-03-04 19:20:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,837
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25451533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/annabethcheese/pseuds/annabethcheese
Summary: He’s still running, but the ground feels far away, almost nonexistent like he’s flying; exhaustion is threatening to take over, and he wonders if the hydra has already eaten him, when he realizes heisflying.
Relationships: Nico di Angelo/Jason Grace
Kudos: 31





	finding your way

Freshly packed snows covers the ground like a sheet, waiting for the deliberate crunch of shoes, tires, or even shovels scooping it clean off the front stoop. It won’t be long. Breath comes out in short puffs, tiny clouds for all to see as he races by, his black converse barely even making a dent in that fresh snow. His pursuer, however, has cleared the walkway with heated breath far more dense than a tiny cloud, its legs carrying nine furious heads that can’t seem to find their target. Small fires have to have been reported as this chase down the Upper East Side continued, but sirens are a constant in a place like New York, and there’s not much to concentrate on besides running as far as either of these two are concerned.

“How did a hydra even get this far into Manhattan without _him_ noticing?” Nico mutters under his panting breath, sharply rounding a corner to some back alley. He’s had this path seared into his mind at this point, all he has to do is run it. “Please be there, please be there, please…”

Pale skin flashes in tandem with the white snow, but this blotch of shadowed blacks and grays is a stark contrast, as well as what made him such an easy target. Shadow travelling away was always an option, but the hydra caught Nico in the middle of resting after the last jump from Albuquerque, New Mexico (his father had wanted him to check up on a harpy nest). He’d meant to come out in the subway and get some rest (you’d be surprised by how few people bother a sleeping homeless kid if he sits far enough in corner), but clearly that backfired since his weak state allowed the giant monster to sneak up on him.

After it scorched his leather jacket and singed a few pieces of hair that he’d really been trying to grow out, Nico leads it to the tracks just in time for a train to race into it. Unfortunately there were several people in the cars and many scream at the crash, but, fortunately for the son of Hades, he’s now at the top of the hydra’s death list and no one else could seem to distract it from crossing him off. He got a head start because of the collision, thankfully, but it wasn’t difficult for the monster to catch up to a scrawny kid slipping on the snow when it has four legs to work with. A roar sounds out that’s closer than before and heat is building up behind him, so he turns another corner to dodge a column of flames.

The wind has been biting at his face and hands for too long, his legs went numb four blocks into the chase of trying to get this thing off his trail, and all Nico wants to do is curl up in a ball to sleep. So, it’s unsurprising when his eyes start to drift shut against all protest, dark lashes covering the deep brown of his irises. He’s still running, but the ground feels far away, almost nonexistent like he’s flying; exhaustion is threatening to take over, and he wonders if the hydra has already eaten him, when he realizes he _is_ flying.

Looking up, all he sees are bright orange gloves gripping the hood of his jacket and a baby blue winter coat blocking the face of his new capturer. Suddenly, though, sky blue eyes and cropped blond hair are peeking out at him. “Hi, Nico,” Jason smiles down, almost like a makeshift sun on this cloudy December night.

And, gods, Nico wants to give some snarky reply that will only make the other boy laugh, but he can only manage a scowl that simply exhibits just how tired and sore he his. The son of Jupiter must notice this exhaustion and lands on a nearby rooftop, allowing Nico to stumble to his hands and knees to spit mucus into the once undisturbed snow here. It takes a few minutes for his breathing to relax into long streams that tumble into the air as he flops onto his back, not really caring about the wet cold that seeps into his jeans.

“We have to tell Percy about the hydra,” he mumbles against chapped lips.

Jason settles down next to him, brushing the snowflakes from his dark hair (Nico flinches away at first, but then leans into the orange glove just slightly to let Jason know he’s just not used to touch yet). “I already told him.”

Nico’s eyes drift shut, leaving space enough for light to filter through but not much else. “How’d you know, then?” _How do you seem to know everything?_ goes unasked.

“It wasn’t hard to figure out with the fire trail it left,” Jason chuckles. “Percy was right behind me, putting out fires and taking care of it. You know, hydra breath smells terrible.”

They both laugh for a moment when a realization hits Nico. “Wait,” he pauses, cracking his eyes open once more, “Aren’t you supposed to be in Pasadena, or something?” He adds the _“or something?”_ like he doesn’t know Jason is meant to be just finishing up English class right now at Paramount High School, after which he heads for his final class of the day, 3D Art. They send letters back and forth through the cloud nymphs, and it didn’t take much to memorize a school day schedule without one of his own.

With a deep sigh, Jason removes his gloved hand from his forehead and hugs his knees closer to his chest. Nico takes this as his cue to sit up as well, mimicking the other boy’s pose. “I’m taking the rest of the semester off,” he says decidedly, glancing in Nico’s direction but not quite making eye contact, gauging his reaction.

There’s a moment where Nico’s eyebrows shoot up, but they quickly move back down to eye level and scrunch closer together. “Why? I thought you liked it there.” _I thought Piper was there,_ a bitter thought interjects. But Jason’s shoulders have deflated, and he’s turned his head downward to rest on his knees. “Did…something happen?” Nico asks hesitantly, placing a bare hand on his nylon coat.

“You, uh, you know how I said Piper was acting weird?” He asks, barely moving his head to acknowledge Nico’s small nod. “Well, we, um… _She_ broke up with me. So, I left.”

An intake of breath, a pause, and silence is what follows, but Nico has never been good in quiet. The bustle of a city still happening below them is what brings him back. “I’m sorry,” is all he can seem to say.

“No, it’s—” Jason lifts his head to stare at Nico’s pale hand on his shoulder. “It’s okay. I didn’t realize it, but I’d been acting weird towards Piper, too. She took the step I was too afraid to.” He runs a hand down his face, looking too old for a seventeen-year-old. “Things have always been strained between us since we learned Hera faked it all, and we fought more than I’d like to admit looking for Leo. And I haven’t even gotten all of my memories back yet, so it’s not like I could have been all there for her anyways. Plus, I’ve been working on all the minor god and goddesses’ shrines for both camps, so that’s just one more thing I used to pushed her away. I just--”

“Hey,” Nico has moved to sit up on his knees, pushing his arms around Jason, whose breath hitches. The position is awkward, but he just wants him to stop blaming himself for every little thing. “It’s not your fault, you know that, right?” he whispers into his shoulder.  
“I—” He breathes in. “I can’t know that. Especially since…” It takes him a full minute to continue—Nico counted the debilitating seconds, listening to Jason’s heartbeat slow to a more relaxed _thump, thump, thump._ “You left.”

Puzzled, Nico looks up at him, but Jason is looking down at his hands, picking off the orange pills that have built up on his gloves. “What? Left where?” But there’s no question in his voice because it’s already dawned on him—Camp Half-Blood. He’d promised Jason he would stay and try, and he _did_ try, but the looks, the pressure, the _fear_ was too much. Sure, being with Will helped people see he wasn’t a total monster like they thought, but it didn’t erase the side-glances, or the whispers, or the laughter, or everything Will told him to “just ignore.” It only got worse after Jason left, so Nico did, too; there wasn’t anything there left for him. His voice is smaller than before when he really replies, “I tried, Jay.”

A few thumps of a beating heart. “I know.” Then Jason is looking at him, having turned his whole body to look at Nico with those expansive eyes of blue like a storming ocean, or a settling sky, or some sapphire grounded into dust under the weight of the world. And, _gods_ , Nico can’t stand to see him like this; of course Jason blames himself.

“But you didn’t know,” he reassures, unwinding his arms from around the woeful son of Jupiter, taking his glasses to clean them of all the dirt that’s built up on them. Holding them up to an overhead light, he remarks, “I, uh, I don’t know how you see in these things.”

Nico feels Jason’s eyes on him, but he doesn’t—can’t—look at him right now. It’s too much. So, he cleans his glasses on his black shirt, checking with the light every so often that he’s gotten all of the debris off of them. When he’s satisfied, he looks back to Jason, almost withering at the way he looks at him with seemingly no barriers, with _trust_ , Nico knows. His throat threatens to close up as he places the glasses haphazardly on Jason’s nose, which the latter immediately fixes, their fingers brushing together on their separate paths.

Blushes dust each boys’ cheeks as one looks away and the other holds his gaze steady, both of their lips upturned in small smiles, even given the chilly air. Jason lifts a hand from his lap to brush back Nico’s bangs and holding the hair there. “It’s gotten longer,” he comments offhandedly. _Will you stay?_ is the silent question held between them in the clouds of visible breath.

“Yeah,” he nods. And despite the biting air, the frozen knuckles, the chilled jeans; despite it all, Nico knew he would. He’d remember the good of camp, because the endless strawberry fields were perfect for picnics with New Roman brownies, and the campfire songs actually weren’t that bad with Jason terrible singing throwing off the key, and Long Island Sound had the best seashells for water gods’ shrines, and all of it, every little detail, would be better this time around. Because Jason would stay, so he would, too.

**Author's Note:**

> alright ! so i might write more for this ? we shall see. but thank u for reading regardless :D


End file.
